Girdle



March 22, 1960 T. B. SCHAUMER GIRDLE Filed Nov. 14, 1955 EN TOR.

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GRDLE Theo B. Schaumer, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Munsingwear, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Application November 14, 1955, Serial No. 546,725

1 Claim. (Cl. 123-540) This invention relates to girdles, and more particularly to those utilizing elastic fabrics for confining the abdomen and thighs of the wearer.

It has been common in such garments to provide a strong restraint for the abdomen, so as to control the figure, while other portions of the body that are encircled by the girdle are subjected to a lesser control. It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a girdle of simple construction that provides this type of constraint, in an inexpensive manner, and without the use of stiffener elements.

It is another object of this invention to provide a girdle made substantially entirely of two-way stretch net material, so cut and folded as to provide stronger constraint or control at the front of the garment.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of several embodiments of the invention. For this purpose, there are shown a few forms in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. These forms will now be described in detail, illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that this detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a girdle incorporating the invention;

Fig. 2 is a rear view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken along a plane corresponding to line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a pictorial view similar to Fig. 2, of a modified form of the invention.

The girdle consists essentially of a loop member 1, preferably made of a single piece of stretchable material, such as two-way stretch netting. The upper and lower edges of the garment may be reinforced by elastics 2 and 3. Usual garter tabs 4 may also be provided, as desired.

As indicated most clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, the rear portion of the lower edge extends slightly below the front portion. Furthermore, the garment widens from the waist portion at its upper end, to the thigh portion at its lower end.

To provide additional stiffening restraint at the front portion of the garment, the ends of the fabric material are folded inwardly, as indicated by the folds 5 and 6 (Figs. 1 and 3). These folds are at the central front portion of the garment; and the loop member is formed by joining the folds as by fagoting 7.

The folded ends 5 and 6 may be joined to the loop by lines of stitching or seams 8 and 9. These seams 8 and 9 are both located on the inner side of the garment and form a symmetrical arrangement with respect to the front center portion of the garment.

The folded portions 5 and 6 provide additional abii Pat Patented Mar. 22, 1980 dominal restraint or control at the front of the garment. This is enhanced in the present instance by so forming the garment that the threads of the netting adjacent the fold are on the bias, as indicated by the arrows 10 and 11. In other words, the elements of the netting run in a direction oblique to the horizontal or vertical. A force exerted by a pull in a horizontal or vertical direction is thus more vigorously resisted by the oblique filaments of the netting material.

Bias of the netting threads at the front of the garment occurs when the threads in the rear of the garment are not biased, as indicated by arrow 12. Thus, at the rear, the threads run substantially parallel and at right angles to the upper and lower edges of the garment. Thus when the netting material forming the loop of they girdle is folded obliquely at the sides 16 and 17, the threads in the front of the garment assume a corresponding oblique direction, as shown by the arrows 10 and 11. When the ends 5 and 6 are folded inwardly, the slant or obliquity of these inwardly folded elements are reverse to the bias indicated by arrows 10 and 11; and a corresponding additional stiffening is effected at the front of the garment.

The material being two-Way stretch net, the restraint other than at the folded portion is quite gentle. The abdominal lift is thus provided by the relatively biased direction of the threads at the front central portion of the garment.

In the form shown in Fig. 4, the girdle is made of two pieces instead of a single piece. At the rear, therefore, there is a line of fagoting 15. Each of the two pieces 13 and 14 is folded at both of its ends to provide the reverse bias threads, both at the front and rear of the garment. In this instance, the material out of which pieces 13 and 14 are made is cut so as to provide a slight bias at the rear of the garment, as well as at the front of the garment.

The structure of the girdle is simple. Additional still ness or restraint is obtained by folding the ends of the pieces defining the loop. This stiffness is confined to the central portion of the garment where it is desired to control the abdomen or the back of the wearer.

The inventor claims:

In a girdle: a loop member tapering from the lower edge to the upper edge, for covering the thighs of a wearer, and extending upwardly to the waist region; said member being made of a single piece of two-way stretch net fabric, having continuous top and bottom edges, the front of the loop member being formed by straight inwardly folded portions, said portions being attached by seams along the inner edges of the folded portions; the folds being joined at the front center of the loop member; the threads of the front of the garment being biased with respect to those of the inwardly folded portions; the

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,320,408 Clark June 1, 1943 2,610,324 Dowd Sept. 16, 1952 2,632,165 Murdock Mar. 24, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 735,741 Great Britain Aug. 24, 1955 

